1 Case: 01

A Trading Assistant’s Job

Based on the view of whatis happening in Fortunate Financial Services Limited (FFSL). Robin Singh, the
branch manager of Delhi office, concluded that one of the first things he had to attend involved
developing job descriptions for his one-line trading assistants. The daily turnover of the FFSL’s Branch in
the Connaught circus area has been going up steadily in the recent times, thanks to the stock market
boom in January, 2000; it has reached an all time high of 7 crore. To in cash the opportunities presented
by the boom FFSL had recruited 5 additional assistants- all younggraduateswithovertwoyearsof
experience in stock market operations taking the total number of assistants to 12. Two supervisors have
also been appointed about six months back to oversee trading arrangements and backoffice operations.
The branch allows trading in stock belonging to BSE, NSE and DSE. Each assistant had to look after the
requirement of more than 30 clients on daily basis. In recent times, FFSL face the number of problem on
settlement day Major steps taken to sustain with the rise and fall of Stock Prices:
Clientsexceededtheirlimitwithactivecooperationfromtradingassistants/Supervisors. Clients issued
checks which bounced back later on. Sharescertificateswere nothandedoverin time or delivery slips
not handed in over in cases of dematerialized stocks. Clientssimplydisappeared for
awhile,whenevertheytookalongpositionina particular scrip - only to surface when the price is up.
Problem discussed with the Management: Clearly define the roles and responsibility of trading
assistants and supervisors. Assessthe networthof a clientcarefullybefore enrolling him as a member.
Set trading limits clearly and circulates this to assistants daily. On the settlement day ask the clients to
pay or square up. Collect amount from clients on a daily basis whenever they exceeded limits. Make
the entire group responsible, whenever they allowed clients to exceed limits. Questions: (1) What
should be the formal and final form of the trading assistant’s job description? (2) Is it advisable to
specify rules and regulations in the body of the job descriptions or should these be kept separately? (3)
How would you have conducted the job analysis in the above case?

2 Summary Branch Manager Robin is going to develop single line based trading assistants job
description. For increasing trend of turnover his company recruited five additional assistants to handle
more than thirty clients on a day in average to supervisor in working just under manager to oversee
trading arrangementandtake responsibility of back office. Existing even seven trading assistant had
faced some problems with management and also with clients. That is the main reason to recruit new
people in the team. Answer to the question no.1 The formal and final form of the trading assistant’s job
description is presented below: JOB DESCRIPTION JOB TITLE: Trading Assistant REPORTS TO: Trader
DIVISION: Middle-office DEPARTMENT: Trading SUMMARY TradingAssistant’sworkwithhedge
fundsortradinggroupstotrade stocksand increase the value of
theirassignedstockportfolios.Theyoftenworkina team withPortfolioManagers,Researchers,
operationsstaff andLegal groupsto ensure theirclients’portfolioscontinuetogrow invalue. DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES Reviewing the transactions on a customer’s account to ensure financial accuracy.
Assisting with trade executions in case of when account executives are not present. Monitoring the
market as a whole in order to keep the rest of the firm informed. Coordinating transactions with
portfolio managers and investment teams with regards to their trade ideas, information flow and data
requests. Summarizing the daily transactions and earnings into reports for each client’s account.
Conducting clerical services like distributing mail to the staff, filling records or documents in tothe
system, preparing documents for contracts or legal record, and preparing research or technical reports.
REQUIRED SKILLS Core skills: Extensive experience
withadvancedspreadsheetprogramssuchasAdvancedExcel,VBA and SQL Understandingof
economicsandaccounting, withaworkingknowledgeof economicand
accountingprinciplesandpractices,banking,financial marketsandworkingwithfinancial information
Strongmathematical skills,includingfamiliaritywithalgebra,arithmetic,geometry,
statistics,calculusandhowto applythemtofinancial markets

9. 3 Customerservice skills,includingmeetingcustomerneeds,workingwithstandardoffice
machinery,offeringqualitystandardsof service andevaluatingcustomersatisfactionina
timelyandprofessional manner,despite the fast-pacedenvironment. Advanced skills:
Previousexperienceinbank,creditorglobal trade or brokerage focusedhedge funds.
Previousacademicexcellence inthe fieldsof mathematics,economics,the physical sciences or engineering.
Experiencedwith global capital marketsandcreditderivatives. Answer to the question no.2 It isnot
mandatoryto specifyrules and regulations in job description body. A separated regulation can be more
effective Answer to the question no.3 By followingthe steps mentionedbelow,Iwouldhave conductedthe
jobanalysis in the above case: Identifying the job to be analyzed Determining procedures to be used
(methods) in collecting job data Reviewing the data collected Summarizing and documenting the
data collected